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Mode-locked quantum-dot lasers

Nature Photonics volume 1, pages 395–401 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

Semiconductor lasers are convenient and compact sources of light, offering highly efficient operation, direct electrical control and integration opportunities. In this review we describe how semiconductor quantum-dot structures can provide an efficient means of amplifying and generating ultrafast (of the order of 100 fs), high-power and low-noise optical pulses, with the potential to boost the repetition rate of the pulses to beyond 1 THz. Such device designs are opening up new possibilities in ultrafast science and technology.

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Figure 1: The density of states in quantum dots, D(E).
Figure 2: The spectral bandwidth of the amplified femtosecond pulses (squares: data; red line: polynomial fit) and the amplified spontaneous-emission spectrum from the QD device (solid blue line).
Figure 3
Figure 4: Pump–probe measurements of the carrier lifetime of a QD waveguided device.
Figure 5: Optical spectra corresponding to the mode-locked operation in the ground (red) and excited (blue) states.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to thank V. Ustinov and A. Zhukov from Ioffe Institute (St Petersburg) and D. Livshits and A. Kovsh from Innolume GmbH (Dortmund) for helping to prepare samples and stimulating discussions. The authors also acknowledge the support of the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the partial financial support of FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, Portugal, through a graduate scholarship awarded to M. A. Cataluna.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Carnegie Laboratory of Physics, School of Engineering and Physics, University of Dundee, Dundee, DD1 4HN, UK

    E. U. Rafailov & M. A. Cataluna

  2. School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St Andrews, North Haugh, St Andrews, KY16 9SS, Fife, UK

    W. Sibbett

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  1. E. U. Rafailov
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Rafailov, E., Cataluna, M. & Sibbett, W. Mode-locked quantum-dot lasers. Nature Photon 1, 395–401 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2007.120

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